Supreme Court rejects Conrad Black's appeal

Washington
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The US Supreme Court has upheld the two remaining convictions of fraud and obstruction of justice against former media tycoon Conrad Black.

Black said in a statement that he was not surprised by the Supreme Court decision but would continue to fight.

The two convictions were upheld by a Chicago appeals court last October, in spite of urgings from Black's attorneys to drop all charges.

Black's attorneys argued that revisions to the "honest services" fraud statute, which made the statute apply only to cases involving bribery and kickbacks, made Black's fraud convictions unconstitutional. Two of the fraud convictions were dropped following the revision, but a third and the conviction of obstruction remained.

Black was released from prison in July 2010 on bail after serving over two years of his six-and-a-half year sentence.

The British peer and former media baron who rejected Canadian citizenship is scheduled to appear for re-sentencing on the remaining convictions on June 24, and prosecutors say Black should have his full sentence reimposed in spite of the two overturned convictions.